The Arc Continues

From the Loire to the Bidassoa, France's Atlantic Arc presents not one coast but many, united by the ocean's influence but differentiated by history, culture, and geography. This is a coast in constant evolution, where traditional activities adapt to modern realities, where communities balance preservation with necessary change, where the eternal dialogue between land and sea continues to shape human life.

The Atlantic Arc embodies France's relationship with the wider world. These ports sent explorers to map unknown shores, slavers to Africa's coast, emigrants to the Americas. They welcomed goods, people, and ideas from across the ocean, creating a cosmopolitan culture that enriches France. Today's coast continues this tradition of exchange, hosting international visitors, embracing global sports like surfing, participating in worldwide movements for environmental protection and sustainable development.

Standing on any beach, cliff, or quay along this magnificent coast, one senses both continuity and change. The tides that shaped medieval salt marshes still flood and ebb. The winds that powered sailing ships now turn turbines. The communities that faced the ocean for fish now also look to it for energy, recreation, and inspiration. The Atlantic Arc remains what it has always been: France's window on the western ocean, a threshold between European continent and Atlantic world, a coast where past and future meet in the endless rhythm of waves on shore.# Languedoc-Roussillon - Where France Meets the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean coast of Languedoc-Roussillon stretches from the Rhône delta to the Spanish border, a great arc of sand, lagoons, and low-lying plains backed by the foothills of the Massif Central and Pyrenees. This is a coast that challenges preconceptions about the Mediterranean—no dramatic corniche roads or cliff-perched villages here, but rather an ancient landscape of wetlands and beaches, salt pans and vineyards, where human ingenuity has wrested prosperity from challenging conditions.